The Thunder center was back in Oklahoma City on Sunday, running a free camp for kids ages 8 to 19 at the Sante Fe Family Life Center. It marked the end of a whirlwind summer that included the revocation of his passport by the government in his native Turkey.

That incident ignited Kanter's political spark. He took advantage to speak out more than ever before against the Turkish government and president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and it's led to something of a social-consciousness snowball.

“Whenever I have an interview, they don't ask me basketball questions anymore,” Kanter said Sunday after the camp. “They ask me politics, they ask me (about) some problems in America — racism and sexism, whatever. But I'm ready for all these questions. I study hard.”

But Kanter is, he said, first and foremost concerned with his role as a basketball player.

He's not going to stop speaking his mind, and he's encouraging others with powerful voices to do the same on issues that matter to them. But the Thunder opens camp next week, and Kanter is ready to shift his focus to the court.